Improvement in drying disintegrated fibers



NAPETERS, PROTO-UTMOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C.

tttidt iait WILLIAM ADAMSON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Letters Patent No. 109,706, dated November 29, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN DRYING DISINTEGRATED FIBERS. i

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

I, 'WILLIAM ADAMSON, of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have invented an 'Improved Process of Treating Wet Fibers,of which the following is a specification.

Nature and bjcct of the Invention.

My invention consists of a process, too fully explained hereafter toneed preliminary description, of treating the disintegrated andsaturated n'bers of cane-stalks, and other wet vegetable fibers, so asto simultaueonsl y cleanse and dry the same, andthcreby reduce them to aproper condition for packing and transportation to localities where theymay be available as papersock or applied to other useful purposes.

Description of the Accompanying Drminy.

Figure l is avertical section of apparatus for carrying my inventioninto effect, and

Figure 2, a plan view ofthe same.

General Description..

The fibers ot' cane are especially useful as paperstock, and can beapplied with advantage to other purposes.

The mode of disintegrating the cane-,stalks by theapplication of steamis well known, the result of this process being masses of saturatedibersiutermixed with pith or other foreign matter.

Much inconvenience has been cxpcriencedin trailsferring these fibersfrom the localities in which the cane abounds tothe manufacturingdistricts, owin g to the diiculty of' thoroughly drying the saturatedmasses and depriving them ot' the foreign matter, and thereby reducingthem to a condition suitable for being packed and transported.

Io overcome these dilicultgies is the object of the invention, which Iwill now proceed to describe.

A chamber, A, which I prefer to make deeper at one end than at theothcr,is formed in the ground,`

and suitably lined with brick or other appropriate material, and thischamber is covered with a series ot' bars forming a grating, B, whichmay, for convenience, be level with the surface of the ground.

Heated products of combustion are drawn by a fan, E, or other equivalentmechanism, from any adjacent furnace, and forced through the rear wall aof the chamber A into the latter.

'After the cane-stalks have been disintegrated by the process referredto above, much of the pith andv other foreign matter which adheres tothe 1ibers,aud impairs their utility as paper-stock, may be removed bywashing, but particles continue to be attached to the fibers, and can bemost eli'eetually removed by the application of heat.

The saturated brous masses are placed in a layer on the grating B, andbeing then subjected to the heated products of combustion or to heatedair, the water which they had absorbed is rapidly evaporated, and duringthis evaporation the adherent foreigrl particles, which would otherwiseremain, are loosened and separated from the available fibers. In otherwords, the fibers are simultaneously cleansed aud dried, and

thereby reduced to an appropriate condition for transportation.

My invention may be applied with advantage to the treatment of othersaturated vegetable tbers.

Claim.

The process herein described of treating saturated witnesses.

WM. ADAMSON.

Witnesses:

WM. A. STEEL, FRANKLIN B. RICHARDS.

